Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 30 January 2018
95. Deputy Michael McGrath asked the Minister for Finance if a review has taken place in terms of the personal injury claims paid out by the State Claims Agency; the legal costs associated with the claims paid out; the actions taken to reduce the instances leading to personal injury claims; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [4282/18]
View answerThe NTMA have informed me from 2010 to 2017 personal injury claim legal costs paid out on by the State Claims Agency (SCA) on behalf of state authorities and healthcare enterprises delegated to them was a little under €350 million for the Healthcare sector both Clinical and General and a little over €40 million outside of Healthcare for general claims only.
The “risk universe” managed by the SCA includes over 200,000 State employees and all public healthcare service users. The public healthcare area has circa 7 million contacts annually. It also includes public services that, by their nature, constitute higher risk activities such as clinical care in hospitals, Defence Forces personnel on operations overseas, Garda Síochána operational duties, customs inspections, emergency response services and custody of prisoners.
The SCA advise me that increasing cost in recent years, which has been in line with actuarial projects, have been contributed to by the impact of the Court of Appeal Decision in the Gill Russell v HSE case which held that the Real Rate of Return (RRR) in respect of the calculation of future care special damages should be 1%. It also held that the RRR in respect of all pecuniary losses should be 1.5%. The RRR used previously to calculate special damages in the form of future costs, loss of earnings was 3%. Another significant development has been the increase in the number of state authorities delegated to the NTMA since 2010 from 52 to 146 with the HSE’s delegation resulting in the portfolio of claims steadily increasing since 2010.
The SCA implements targeted personal injury and property damage risk work programmes to mitigate litigation risk in State authorities and healthcare enterprises, in order to reduce the costs of future litigation against the State.
In terms of actions taken to reduce instances leading to personal injury claims the SCA’s clinical risk management programme focuses on collaboration with risk managers and other personnel in healthcare enterprises to support patient safety. The enterprise risk management programme focuses on providing advice and support to State authorities and healthcare enterprises regarding risk management structures, building maintenance, fire safety, health and safety and environmental management.
